Chemotherapy is the use of anticancer drugs to treat cancerous cells. Chemotherapy has been used for many years and is one of the most common treatments for cancer. In most cases, chemotherapy works by interfering with the cancer cell's ability to grow or reproduce. Different groups of drugs work in different ways to fight cancer cells. Chemotherapy may be used alone for some types of cancer or in combination with other treatments such as radiation (or radiotherapy) or surgery. Often, a combination of chemotherapy drugs is used to fight a specific cancer. There are over 50 chemotherapy drugs that are commonly used.
While chemotherapy can be quite effective in treating certain cancers, chemotherapy drugs reach all parts of the body, not just the cancer cells. Because of this, there may be many side effects during treatment. Therefore, there is a need having a method for lowering the dosage of chemotherapy drugs to alleviate the side effects and maintain its efficacy during cancer treatment. For lowering the dosage, it can benefit both patient (lesser side effects) and manufacturer for chemotherapeutic drug (lower production cost).
Common radiotherapeutic agents include Rhodium-105 complex, Samarium-153 complex and other related complex; these agents also have a lot of side effects for cancer patients.
Hypoxia is common in cancers. Hypoxia and anemia (which contributes to tumor hypoxia) can lead to ionizing radiation and chemotherapy resistance by depriving tumor cells of the oxygen essential for the cytotoxic activities of these agents. Hypoxia may also reduce tumor sensitivity to radiation therapy and chemotherapy through one or more indirect mechanisms that include proteomic and genomic changes.
Thus, there is a need in the art for improved cancer treatments that target cancerous cells and tissues while reducing the effects of cancer treatments on non-cancerous cells and tissues.